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Rainbow Wisps at Bridal Veil Falls

With a height of about 900 feet, Bridal Veil Falls (also called Bridalveil Falls) is one of the star attractions of Yosemite. The fall is fed by Bridal Veil Creek, which flows through a classic glacial hanging valley before plunging to the floor of Yosemite Valley, where its waters join the Merced River. Hanging valleys are created when glaciers erode rock at different rates, resulting in tributary valleys with higher floors than the valleys to which they connect.

At the time I visited, the flow of this fall was rather limited due to the dry California summer. This allowed the high-altitude winds to blow the water around, creating wisps that cast partial rainbow colors in the late afternoon light. In the spring, the fall is a raging monster; the dark markings on the canyon wall show approximately the extent of the wall that gets wet during high flow.